Academic Programs

Masters in Film Studies

The Certificate in Film Studies is available to students matriculated in the Ph.D. programs at the Graduate Center. The program aims to develop a student's basic familiarity with the history, theory, and criticism of the cinema as a medium and art form. Specific emphasis is placed on developing student competence in methods of historical research using film materials, appreciating the rich classical and contemporary traditions of film theoretical discourse, and cultivating skills in analyzing and interpreting films in a rigorous manner. To earn the certificate, students must take Aesthetics of the Film, the Seminar in Film Theory, as well as Part I or II of History of Cinema. All of these courses may be taken without prerequisite. In addition, two more electives in film in any department complete the certificate requirements. The Certificate is awarded when the Ph.D. degree is conferred. 

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PhD in English

The Ph.D.Program in English offers one of the largest selections of seminars nationally, reflecting both areas of current interest and more traditional historical approaches. CUNY’s consortial arrangement allows the program to draw faculty from all colleges in the system, and thus to provide not only a broad range of coverage but also depth of field. Each semester, seminars cover periods from the Middle Ages to the present. And, because the program has more than one nationally recognized specialist in each area, students are able to consider each area from various perspectives while becoming fluent in different methodologies. Particular faculty strengths include theory and poetics, feminist theory and women’s writing, gay/lesbian/queer theory, medieval and early modern literature and culture, Victorian literature and culture, American literature, (auto)biography, African American literature and culture, composition and rhetoric, postcolonial literature and theory, and twentieth-century studies.

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PhD in Comparative Literature

The Comparative Literature program offers coordinated courses in literature, theory, criticism, aesthetics, and translation, including literatures in English-American, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Slavic languages, classical Greek, and Latin. Students take courses in the national and classical literature programs as well as in Comparative Literature. They may register for certificates in Film Studies, Medieval Studies, Renaissance Studies, and Women's Studies. Texts and contexts range from ancient times to the present. Because more than thirty professors are on the Comparative Literature doctoral faculty, seminars and tutorials taught within the program cover a rich variety of subjects and methodologies ranging from the visual arts, music, and theatre, to history, political science, anthropology, psychoanalysis, philosophy, philology, and other disciplines. Ph.D. degrees in Comparative Literature are offered with specializations in Italian, Classical Greek, and Latin. With their adviser's consent, students are also allowed to take courses through the Interuniversity Doctoral Consortium at Columbia University, Princeton University, New York University, New School University, Stony Brook University, Rutgers University, Teachers College, and Fordham University. The program also offers a master's degree in Comparative Literature.

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